Known medical devices, such as magnetic resonance devices, have a patient couch that is vertically moveable so that it can be lowered to make it easy for the patient to climb on and off. The raised patient couch can also be moved horizontally and can be moved into the patient tunnel. During this inward and outward movement, the patient couch is accommodated at the sides in corresponding recesses in the inner lining of the patient tunnel.
It is obvious that it must be possible to completely withdraw the patient couch from the patient tunnel, and therefore from the recess, in order to lower it. In the completely withdrawn position, the front edge of the patient couch has a clearance of a few millimeters from the lining. When being moved in, the front edge or the front corner sections of the patient couch are inserted into the recess in the lining. There is necessarily a gap here between the sides of the patient couch and the lining in the area of the recess, as viewed from the front of the magnetic resonance device, i.e. viewed in the horizontal direction, there is always a narrow gap between the sides of the patient couch and the recess in the lining. This gap is problematic in that a finger or the skin of the patient can enter into this gap during the inward movement, so that crushing or grazing can occur. Frequently the hands of the patient are not on the top on the couch but instead slid slightly to the side so that a finger can be in the area of the sides of the couch. With elderly or corpulent patients it is possible for part of the body to overhang the sides of the couch. In both cases it is possible during the inward movement for a finger laid at the side or an overhanging part of the skin to get caught in the gap open toward the front, possibly causing painful crushing or grazing etc.